Names that I am known by in my community...

One of the first things I learned when I got to this country is that Panamanians have a hard time pronouncing names that are not similar to thiers. Based on this, I have been known by a wide variety of names by the 300 or so people in my community. The following is a list of these names.

• Jeff- Suprise! Some people can actually pronounce my name correctly.
• Jess- Usually by children and semi-drunk men.
• Yes- Usually by very drunk men.
• Yes Man- By one guy who never drinks.
• Paulo- Since some found it impossible to say ¨Jeff¨,I decided to translate my middle name (Paul) into an alternative name for them
• Pablo
• Palo- Hahaha. Very funny. Palo means tree.
• Effey Jeff- One little boy, Manuelito, kept calling my Jess. I told him ¨No, it´s Jeff, with an effey,¨ which is Spanish for the letter f. ¨Effay, effay, Jeff.¨ He looked at me funny. ¨OK Effey Jeff¨ he replied. He hasn´t called me by any other name since.
• Gringo- Fortunately, almost no one calls me Gringo as a substitute for my name. I am referred to as ¨The Gringo¨by some people who are talking to someone who doen´t recognize my name, as in ¨You don´t know who Paulo is? He´s the gringo.¨ The only one who calls me Gringo to my face is a little girl of about 3 years of age. One day, out of the blue before I had ever spoken to her, he came up to me and said ¨Your name is Gringo.¨ ¨No,¨ I replied, ¨My name is Jeff, and I am a gringo.¨ She gave me a bewildered look and repeated ¨Your name is Gringo.¨ We´re still working on an understanding of my actual name.